If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Last night Mikayla commented that she missed playing the piano and I suggested she go play the one in the lounge. The thought must have worked her over during the night because after breakfast she took a break and made that old out of tune monster sound really good. I sat in a nice comfy chair looking out at scenery that never gets boring, and she played some of my favorites. Several peeked in to see who was playing and one lady even clapped and yelled “Bravo!”

We left bright and early to explore the south end of Corfu. Our first stop was a beach that I had heard could be one of the best in the world, Myrtiotissa. It was actually pretty tricky to find. I felt like I was driving on a neglected, deserted road to an abandoned farm rather to a world class beach. Finally the road doubled back and dropped almost straight down to the ocean below and I could see I was in the right place.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Jet lag forced me awake during the wee hours of the morning, again. At least this time the Internet worked but even if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t complain about sitting in the dark five stories above the sloshing waves in my swimming suit surrounded by tropical warm air. I checked email, typed in my journal, posted photos on Facebook, and watched the sunrise slowly light up the ocean.

When I went to bed last night mosquitoes buzzed my ears like Tom Cruise and his fly-by in Top Gun. Mosquitoes always find and torment me. I can be in a place where mosquitoes don’t even exist and get bites all over my body while everyone else stays untouched. Mikayla wanted to sleep with the large sliding door open to hear the ocean, which was nice, but meant no AC. To keep safe from the little vampires I covered my entire body in the sheet and spent the night with a constant layer of sweat covering my body.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Wide awake at three in the morning seemed like a great opportunity to get up and go online, but no such luck. The gateway was down. Nothing is more frustrating than choosing a hotel because it has Internet and then not having it when I want it. It’s bad enough to wake up too early knowing I’ll be tired later), but tack on not being able to get online and jet lag is that much worse.

I sat on the balcony and wrote in my journal. At about 5:00 I heard bells ringing from the monasteries up on the cliffs. Shortly after, roosters around the town started their crowing (in Greek, of course) and, finally, the sky became lighter. I woke up Mikayla and we got an early start on the long drive. Seeing the monasteries last night meant we could get in several extra hours of driving during the early morning hours and make it to Corfu in one day. Mikayla had been eager for the beach since Day 1 so she was excited. We left early and grabbed breakfast at a fruit stand down the road.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Our first Greek breakfast was simple but tasty. Plain yogurt with honey, deli meat, boiled eggs, and cold cereal were pretty standard everywhere we went. And when it is free with the room, I fill up.

We loaded up the car (which was squeezed against the side of the building, half on the sidewalk and half on the street) and then walked to the archeological site. I had heard there were lots of cats in this area but I didn’t remember until I saw cats…everywhere. As we walked up to the gate several kittens ran up to Mikayla and, of course, she couldn’t not spend a few minutes playing with them.

The ancient site (from about 2,500 years ago) honored the God Apollo, son of Zeus. Apollo had the job of carrying the sun in his chariot across the sky each day. He was the god of prophecy, truth, healing, and the arts. In the picture is the theater and, below it, the remains of the Temple of Apollo where ancient pilgrims conferred with the Oracle. The other ruins are what is left of the Forum (where you might have found a trouble maker by the name of Socrates) and several monuments.

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Several years ago I promised each of of my kids a trip (Aubree chose Italy and Curtis went to Africa). Two weeks, one-on-one with each child exploring a foreign country. It is an idea I developed with our therapist (I think his exact words were “these trips will save you thousands of dollars in therapy down the road”). My wife, Sandi, has been very supportive and patient (her trip is next and looks to be either Germany and Switzerland or Costa Rica). The problem is she only gets 2 weeks of vacation a year, which means giving up an annual trip to see family in Utah or Minnesota. So far she hasn’t wanted to do that. In two more years she’ll get 3 weeks of vacation and that should do the trick! I plan on following up the trip blogs with a summary of what I learned and the effect these trips had on my relationships with the kids. Mikayla and I had a total blast in Greece (Sept 12th – 27th) and and I will try and post a new entry each day for the next two weeks summarizing our adventures.

I would do myself a huge favor by not stressing myself out so much as I prepare. Because we do our own thing there is no tour group, no itinerary, and no personal help as we plan and travel. For months I research the how’s, what’s, and where’s. The pressure to plan the ideal trip at the lowest possible price helps drive me in the planning but also causes a fair amount of stress. If there is an upside to the stress, it helps me consider nearly anything that could possibly go wrong. My problem is I can’t seem to turn it off. Until I am in the plane and my fate is sealed, I second guess myself and try and figure out what I have forgotten to do. The night before we left I laid in bed thinking, Argh…here I go again. End the end, everything always goes just fine. Even the problems (like when Aubree and I were stranded at the train station and slept on the sidewalk in France) end up as fond memories.

Leaving early for the airport doesn’t help either because on top of worrying I forgot something, I’m tired and know I am not thinking straight. It’s actually amazing I am ever able to get out the door on these trips. Mikayla and I flew Air Canada to Toronto where customs harassed me because we didn’t have a letter from her mother and seemed to question that I was even her father.

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Mikayla has spoken: Greece and Turkey.

It’s a lot of work planning out these trips because we don’t do an organized thing. We do the whole thing from scratch, something I think can be compared to building your own house without a contractor. We are on our own…which is quite intimidating. But I’m getting better at it. Experiences like sleeping on the sidewalk in France and getting chased by an elephant in South Africa have helped me realize that things will work out. One way or another, things work out.

This will fulfill the promise I made to my kids several years ago, a one-on-one trip with each of them to wherever in the world they wanted to go. It has turned out to be one of the best ideas I ever had. The times spent with Aubree in Europe and Curtis in Africa are beyond words…and pictures. Two solid weeks alone with each of my kids, experiencing new things, learning new things…it’s an amazing opportunity. I am so grateful to be in a position where I can do this with them and to have a supportive wife.

So for any of you that have been to Greece or Turkey, please pass on your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. We’ll be heading out in September!

If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Long travel days suck me dry. Today started with an early ride on the metro to the airport. Of all the travelling I’ve done, Barcelona is the easiest and most affordable city for airport transportation. Most places will rake your wallet for a ride to get to and from the airport, but in Barcelona a standard inexpensive metro pass gets you there no problem.

Our first layover was in Brussels and for Aubree that meant one thing, Belgian Chocolate. She wasn’t too happy, however, to see it stuffed and sealed in the customs-friendly bag. She was  even less happy when I told her we couldn’t open it until we got home. After all, her argument to buy it was “Curti wants chocolate, that’s all he asked for…we have to get some for him!”

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning …

Our vacation has come down to this, one final day. The days have seemed so long and full of activities that at times it felt like this trip would go on forever. Yet now they have slipped past, much faster than I expected. But I think we are both ready to get home. It has been a fast-paced high-activity adventure and I am looking forward to getting home for some relaxation. But before that happens, we have one more fabulous day in Barcelona and we both are geared up to make the most of it.

We rode the metro down closer to the waterfront and were cutting through the Gothic section of town towards the beach when we stumbled upon a bicycle rental shop. We rented bikes and I have to tell you, after walking everywhere for ten days, it felt like a Dukati. We zoomed through the alleys, weaved through pedestrians, and in what felt like seconds had already reached the beach area. I felt like the whole world was within my reach on that rickety old bike as we covered in seconds the same ground we’d spent hours pounding on foot. We instantly agreed that renting bikes was one of the best things we’d done (but a big part of the thrill came from the build up of 10 days of hoofing it).

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

We walked all over Barcelona today. I started a little earlier than Aubs because she wasn’t ready to wake up when I did. I got ready and went out looking for somewhere I could some breakfast to bring back but at 7am on a Sunday morning there wasn’t a whole lot open. I bought some snacks and on my way back to the room, checked with the front desk at the hotel to find out how the metro system worked. After the long walk we took last night I knew hoofing it around all day wouldn’t get us to all the places we wanted to see.

The subways in Barcelona are excellent. Clean, easy, and they have AC! You can get anywhere and the various passes they offer make it extremely affordable. We could have stayed further out at a nicer place, which would have saved a few bucks and it wouldn’t have been less inconvenient. Aubs got ready and we took the subway down to the waterfront and decided to go see the castle on the top of Montjuic hill. My buddy Greg had told me to go see the monestary called Montserrat, but I messed up and we went to Montjuic instead, DOH! Another to do when I come back with Sandi.

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If you didn’t start reading on Day 1, you might want to start from the beginning…

Waking up on the sidewalk in a small French town isn’t the best way to start a new day. I was just happy daylight was around the corner. Domile and her friends packed up their bags, we all said a round of ‘good mornings,’ and then went into the train station. After looking at the boards, Domile laughed and said, “why did you let us get up so early, our train doesn’t leave for a couple hours!”

So Domile and Kernius played cards, I wrote in my journal, and everyone else crashed. We still weren’t sure how we’d get to Barcelona. We decided to try and catch a train across the border and then give it a shot from the Spanish side. The plan worked. Our four minute ride into Spain pulled in just as a train was departing to Barcelona. In fact we almost missed it because not everyone had cleared customs and I didn’t want to leave unless we all were able to get on. It just didn’t seem right to abandon them. But we all made it and were all on our way, finally. We were a short two hours away from our final destination!

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